Nashville Season 1 Review “Dear Brother” – Birthday Blues

Against everyone’s advice, Juliette threw Deacon a huge birthday party in “Dear Brother,” this week’s episode of Nashville, but to everyone’s surprise, he actually enjoyed it, especially the impromptu song Rayna performed when Juliette’s not-so-rehabbed mama got trashed and had to be taken home.

Has Deacon set his sights on Rayna again, now that the news of her divorce has come out? Thanks to some photos of her weird night with Liam, public opinion seems to be that she cheated on Teddy, even though the truth of his affair with Peggy has stayed under wraps. The real victim in the whole thing is Maddie, though, as she tries to reconcile all the different, painful truths in her life. Now would be the worst possible time for her to discover that she’s actually Deacon’s daughter, so you have to wonder if that might somehow come out.

As for Teddy, he’s walking the line between jerk and decent guy so much that’s it’s hard to tell which side he’s actually on. Defying his father-in-law by hiring the man he unfairly beat out for mayor as his deputy mayor: decent guy move. Appointing his lover as a member of his mayoral staff: jerk move. Standing up for Rayna with the press: decent. Treating her like she caused the divorce: jerk.

Moving on to Juliette, she managed to successfully avoid dealing with her mother’s rehab, even though she invited her into her house, by throwing herself into planning Deacon’s party as a way to make up for her own terrible history with birthdays. Helping her through the painful reconciliation with her past is her mother’s rehab-appointed counselor, and since he is really cute, I smell a new love interest for the country princess.

Tragedy also struck this week for Gunnar. After discovering and disposing of his brother’s gun, Gunnar kicked him out after a painful confrontation, only to later be called down to morgue in order to identify his brother’s body. While I was worried that he might turn his own guilt towards Scarlett as she was the one who made him get rid of the gun and his brother, the death only pushed the two of them together, and we ended with our young lovers getting rapidly moer naked together. I’ve loved them since day one, so it was good for me, but can grief sex turn into a real relationship?

What did you think about the episode? Let me know below! And remember you can always follow me on Twitter @krieli1 so you never miss a review.

About The Author

Born and raised in Florida, but currently living in Los Angeles, Kristen is an aspiring television writer who is willing to give any TV show a chance, unless it involves real wives. When she’s not flipping channels, she can be found either reading a good, old-fashioned bodice ripper, discussing the failures of George Lucas with her friends over cherry pie at Mel’s Diner or trying to round up one or more of her Star Trek RPG players. She’s a proud member of the Romance Writers of America and hopes to finish one of her novels someday.